Richa (Student Portfolio)

/ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO SELECTED WORKS 2011-2016 RICHA ZAVERI

contents Bhau-Daji-Lad - An Extension to Museum, mumbai

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Studio headed by : Professor Gurdev Singh and Professor Percy Pithawala Project Description : An extension to Bhau Daji Lad museum also formerly known as Victoria and Albert museum. It is the oldest museum in Mumbai.

nazarbaug palace - Museum Extension, vadodara

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Studio headed by : Professor Percy Pithawal , Ar. Priyank Shah and Krishna Kanuga Project Description : An extension to Nazarbaug Palace, a contained void in the city with a rich heritage and history owned by the Gaekwads.

varansi - an enquiry into the making of ‘ What is an open space? ‘ Studio headed by : Sunita Dalvi Project Description : An Urban Design studio undertaken in the semester 8 later extented into the final year research thesis. Varanasi also known as Banaras and Kashi, is said to be one of the oldest civilisations in the world. The project aims at understanding the urban morphology of the city.

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BHAU-DAJI LAD - An Extension

to museum, Mumbai About the site :

The Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum (formerly the Victoria and Albert Museum) is the oldest museum in Mumbai. Situated in Byculla East, it was originally established in 1855 as a treasure house of the decorative and industrial arts. It was later renamed in honour of Dr. Bhau Daji, an Indian physician and Scholar. The site is situated in a huge green urban space are that includes a zoo and the museum attached to it.

The area of the proposed site is within the premises of the existing museum itself. The huge vicinity houses a variety of flaura and fauna with trees as old as 200 years.

Amidst the green void is the site for the new museum.

The construction of the present building in Jijamata Udyan in Byculla started in 1862 and was completed in 1871. The museum was opened on May 2, 1975. It was renamed as the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum.

The Museum is managed by a public-private partnershipa first for a cultural institution in India. The partnership involves the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, the Jamanlal Bajaj Foundation and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

This museum houses a large number of archaeology maps and historical photographs of Mumbai, clay models silver and copper ware and costumes. Its significant collections include a 17th-century manuscript of Hatim tai.

Line of Thought / Design Concept: In a city like Mumbai, where there is a scarcity of open spaces, the site of the museum is the only existing urban void in the entire Byculla area. Taking away from the public, the only exiting public space would be unjust.

The idea is to create a structural landscape such that the space becomes a purposeful void with a potential of physically linking things.

The high classical Victorian Architecture of the existing museum contrasts with the new, resulting in contemporary Urban Landscape.

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EXISTING GRID OF BHAU DAJI LAD MUSEUM

PRIMARY MEMBERS - DERIVING THE FORM

PROPORTIONATELY SCALING THE GRID

APPLYING THE PARAMETER OF STRUCTURE

SKEWING IN THE GRID

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THE STRUCTURAL LANDSCAPE

SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN 20M

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Sketch Indicating the initial idea of skewing the existing grid with the essential nodal points.

Conceptualing the structural landscape merging with the existing.

Carving out the spaces from structural landscape by pushing and pulling the gird, applying the parameter of scale .

The proportions of the extension to be lesser in height than the existing to still retain the sense of the place.

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Rheinzink metal cladding sheet

DETAIL AT ROOF JUNCTION

Structural metal decking sheet

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Primary Structural member

STRUCTURE AND SKIN

The steel Structural Grid

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AXONOMETRIC SKIN AND STRUCTURE DETAIL

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Thermal Insulation PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

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Floor boarding

OVERALL MODEL VIEW

A- TYPICAL COLUMN DETAIL

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NAZARBAUG PALACE - Museum Extension , Vadodara The Nazarbaug Palace was constructed by Malhar Rao Gaekwad in the late 9th century in Vadodara. It housed the heirlooms of the royal family of Gaekwads in Vadodara, Western India. It has three storeys and is the oldest palace in Vadodara. The palace was in a state of ruins after being robbed. Its physical location of the museum is in the nucleus of the city comprising of meandering streets and dense fabric.

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Nazarbaug palace is an urban void with a formal grid.

In order to break the formality of the space, the grid was pulled out onto the site and then warped with the ground plane. The smooth curves into the landscape gave a drape like lightness, breaking the symmetry of the grid.

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SECURITY CABIN

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SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN 20M

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CONCEPT DERIVATION 9

CHIZOM BLOCK PERMENANT GALLERY +LVL 10

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PERMENANT GALLERY +LVL 10

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

VERTICAL CIRCULATION HORIZONTAL CIRCULATION PERMENANT GALLERY TEMPORARY GALLERY SERVICE SPACES

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STRUCTUAL AXONOMETRIC VIEW

The concrete and steel structures are independent of each other.

FRONT ELEVATION

CONNECTION WITH CHIZOM

CIRCULATION AXONOMETRIC 11

VARANASI - Enquiry into the

making of ‘ What is an Open Space? ’ Key Words

Open space, Figure Ground theory, Linkage theory, Place theory.

Thesis Question

This thesis focuses on the study and evaluation of the importance of open spaces and the loss with regards to various degrees of sense of openness and enclosures in the morphological pattern.

Context and Relevance

The most imperative and pensive issue in the world today is the depletion of natural resources as an enormous upsurge of population growth over decades. ‘ Open Space ‘ is one such perishable resource that has ceaselessly been exploited to quench the thirst for community goals, consequently leading to Gentrification and Urban Sprawl.

Documentation Banaras - the sacred city (also known as Varanasi and Kashi) The paradoxical city, Banaras, older than time, history and civilization is the spiritual captial of India. Kashi is situated on the banks of river Ganges in Uttar Pradesh. The city is an anomoly whereby there is a co-existence of life and death. Its sacredness is marked by its Parikramas, the holy river Ganges and the array of shrines. Whereas, death in Kashi, is death surpassed for the pilgrims who thong the Ghats for spiritual rewards like deliverance of sins and attainment of nirvana.

The physical geography of the city comprises of three ‘Khands’ or hills, the three points of Shiva’s (Hindu God) trident in Purana accounts and the city has been imagined as raised above the earth. The orientation of the city, focused towards the river to which 84 Ghats abut and its character, is marked by the juxtaposition of the sacred geography with the physical urban morphology.

Analysis and Suggestive Measures

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Two main areas of the city namely, the Kashi Vishwanath temple area and the Thatheri bazaar, the oldest market street, have been The figure ground plan of Varanasi. The settlement started emerging at the bankes of holy river Ganges. The documented and analysed for the scope of open spaces and its growth of the city is very organic where each street eventually leading to down to the ghats and the holy river. parameters. The analysis has been concluded by the exploration of some suggestive measures taken at policy level to optimise the ‘ Open Spaces. ’

OVERALL MODEL VIEW

*Parikramas-the path surrounding something; circumbulatory path around the shrine/temple. *Purana-ancient Indian literature. *Ghats-steps leading down to the river.

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Thatheri Bazaar - the oldest market street

The streets of sacred Kashi house three very important areas of the city where the transition between the sacred and the profane acts as a threshold for every single activity. The old city beholds the most important Shiva temple, the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

Banaras houses one of the oldest market street, Thatheri bazar also known as ‘pakka mahal area.‘ It is the street where all the major trade and commerce has been taking place for years.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

Public instituions punctuating the fabric with the main temple campus highlighting the overlap of two communities within the same milieu.

The area has one of its kind ambiguity where the temple and the mosque are only a few meters apart. This makes the entire area a cricitically sacred communal space.

The Kashi Vishwanath temple, one of the oldest in the world, was destroyed by Emperor Aurangzeb In 1669 CE, who built the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place. The remains of the temple can still be seen in the foundation the mosque.

The temple was last rebuilt by the queen Ahilia Bai Holkar in 1780.

Area in the nucleus of city surrounding Kashi Vishwanath Temple - spritual center of the country.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple Area the spiritual center

Gyan Vapi mosque

Kashi Vishwanath temple

Located right in the heart of the city around the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple which is about 15.5m high and has a gold plated spire and is considered as the spiritual center with high public associational value.

A local market made famous as a treasure trove of brass products, Thatheri Bazar lies close to the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple. A walk through its narrow lanes lets one explore the various kinds of merchandises that are quite local to the city.

The parikramas govern the path-goal relationship in the sacred city.

The specific nature of the area offers myrid layers of different activities being carried out in the meandering streets.The site faces numerous in-time challenges, mundane in nature.

Additionally, one can shop for intricate minakari accessories, clay pots, copper bowls, hand-made rugs, the silk stores , the eat street cafes and much more. The economy of the city has hugely been dependent on the revenues generated by the import and the export of different materials.

Physical, cultural and human characteristics of the space, forms a ‘ place. ‘ In regards to this area, the built fabric constitutes the collage of events which saw the past destruction of the old temple, construction of the GyanVapi mosque, central axis of the Gyan Vapi well and the construction of the new temple.

Figure Ground theory and Thatheri Bazaar

The evident traces of this tranformation makes one feel like the part of some major event that happened back in time.

Even though it is not the physical center of the city, the notion of center is highly felt at the temple as one finds their own microcosms aligned to the spatial grid.

Figure Ground theory and temple area Gyan Vapi well

Fencing

Community separation

The ratio of mass and void in the area is dense around the temple leaving no groom for any open space, offering the terraces as the playgrounds.

There are many smaller temples around the main temple area. These temples are on the ground floor of the houses. These areas with high degree of public activities give life to the space. The figure ground has a quality of spaces being carved out making the fabric more flowey.

The urban fabric does not have any open spaces in the area. The buildings are about 4-5 stories high, making the street highly enclosed. Because of the same reason the street remains quite cool climatically, as the sunlight cannot penetrate. Entire area consists of fabric with different architectural styles such as Art Deco, Colonial, Islamic and Vernacular Courtyard Typology.

Georgraphically, it is the highest point in the city.

Even though the arrangement of urban blocks is very dense, the skin or the facades of the built masses are quite porous. It helps to accentuate the parameter of visual permeability which aids in procuring a sense of openness at a level which is very intangible.

The ground floor is generally an office area and above it are the residences. There are houses with multiple courtyards in this surrounding. The edge of the street is not a straight line. It has an articulate edge which further support the social street life.

The facades of the building are a mix of architectural styles taking us back to time where we belonged. When the cultural, historical and human characteristics are taken forward, the place starts getting its true meaning.

Area in the nucleus of city highlighting the oldest market street - Thatheri Bazaar ( market ) and its proximity with the Sacred Kashi Vishwanath temple area.

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Area Analysis - KashiVishwanath and Thatheri Bazaar

(A) The study of relative land coverage of buildings as solid masses(‘figure’) to open voids(‘ground’).

(C) The essence of a space lies in understanding its physical, cultural and human characteristics. A space starts to become a ‘place’ when its contextual parameters are applied, potentially linking things.

(B) Linkages are the lines that connect the parts of the city. Sometimes these spatial datums can be a line of site, the directional flow of movement, the building edge or an axis.

• The Inter-Connectedness The three thoeries co-exist. Implementation of either of them would lead to less functional cities.

(B) Linkage Theory

(A) Figure Ground Theory

(C) Place Theory

Structure of Evaluation Enclosure Transitional Space

Porosity The notion of collective

Positive and Negative outdoor spaces A

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B Street with multiple edges and pausing pockets

Levels of transparency in the built fabric making it more porus.

Plan of a typical market street where different types of people come together for local transactions, trade and commerce evoking a notion of collective.

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City level

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Street level

Edge as an intermediate space of transition acting as a threshold.

Precinct level

Layout of the fabric that gives rise to positive outdoor spaces. These are generally distinctive, recreational spaces with perceivable boundaries.

Layout of the fabric that gives rise to negaitive outdoor spaces. These are generally left overs and remain unused with undefined boundaries.

Temporality of the space by the means of regular recurrence of elements.

Commercial Area

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Compositions of blocks in the urban fabric that evoke different levels of enclosures.

Temporality

Intermediate space

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Sketch at junction ‘B’ showing the edge life along with the enclosures. The edge gives rise to the street acting as an interface between indoor and outdoor.

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PRECINCT LEVEL

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The streets in the Kashi Vishwanath temple area have an armature on which the major movement happens.

People from accross the country come to visit the spritual and the cultural center India.

Primary streets that lead to the temple where the collective waits to visit the temple.

STRUCTURE OF EVALUATION

NOTION OF COLLECTIVE

TRANSITIONAL SPACE

A plan and a sketch of the Kashi Vishwanath temple street, indicating the long queue of people awaiting the worship of divine. This temple is said to have one of the 12 Jyortirlingas of Lord Shiva. Jyoti means ‘radiance’ and lingam the ‘Image’ of Shiva.

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Antagriha prikrama in the urban structure. Its a Path for dead bodies void punctuated by numerous sacred instituions. intersecting the path of People come together to worship which align their parikrama. Co-existance microcosms to the macrocosm of the temple town of life and death.

STRUCTURE OF EVALUATION

Scanned by CamScanner

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE OUTDOOR SPACES

ENCLOSURES

A typical section at thatheri bazaar- the olderst market street, showing the degree A plan of core area around Kashi Vishwanath temple showing the degree of of enclosure in the old city structure. The old city area houses narrow, serpentine enclousers around a public courtyard space. The degree of enclores is higher in and meandering streets with the building fabric of around 3 to 4 stories adjoining it. the city area with streets as narrow as 8 to 10 feet surrounded by the built fabric of upto 5 stories.

The old city is located on the north shores of the Ganges, bounded

by Varuna and Assi, two Ganges tributaries forming the city’s borders.

The city lies on three plateaus or khandas namely : Omkareshwara on the north, Vishweshwara in the middle and Kedareshwara in the South.

Plan indicating the olderst market street, Thatheri Egde of the street that bazaar. It is a narrow street with high degree of public further stimulates the activies and social interactions which is highly engaging feeling of temporality. that makes one feel timeless.

Part plan of the street of Thatheri bazaar, showing various activities being carried out at the same time. Multiple activities around the same time in the narrow streets make it timeless and add to the temporality.

STREET LEVEL

PRECINCT LEVEL

Urban structure with the demarcation of major temples. These are the place where there is always a transition from profane to scared and vise versa. It transcends our soul into the place where the macrocosm and the microsm of oneself amalgates.

Kaal-Bhairava temple at the end of Thatheri bazaar market street is one of the most significant and oldest shiva temples of the city. This temple has great historical and cultural importance in Hinduism; especially amongst the locals.

it is one of the most active temples in the city dating back to 17 century A.D. The word “Kaal” means both “death” and “fate”. The Temple is visited by hundreds of people on daily basis. It is said to be the ‘kotwal of Varansi’.

Plan showing the character of the street in the old city area. The streets and the PRODUCED

BY AN a AUTODESK blocks are arranged in such way thatEDUCATIONAL they form PRODUCT voids which are sometimes figural (which can be used as a positive space) and some times non figual (a negative non perceivable space).

Plan showing the primary street leading to ghats which is more of a positive entity. It starts from Godolia chock and terminated on one of the main ghats, the dashashwamedh ghat where the biggest religious rituals are performed.

Block and street structure along the ghat. The coherent relationship gives rise to the positive open space on the ghat used for various activities.

Morphology indicating the mass and void relationship of the street and the blocks.

Urban porosity indicates how breathable the cities are.

Urban porosity at street. The boundaries of the built form are not very porous, which interrupts the passage through built form, filtration of light, air and view through it, which otherwise would have increase the visual permeability.

POROSITY

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TEMPORALITY

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The sacred circle has the radius of Circumambulatory routes symbolizing 5 kroshas from the center, which the zones of sacred Kashi. The sanctity demarkates the limit of Kashi Kshetra. of the zones increases progressively towards the center.

CITY LEVEL

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STREET LEVEL

Plan showing the arrangement of blocks and its orientation towards the ghat making it a perceived a positive void which is figural in nature.

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CITY LEVEL

Porosity at the market street, Thatheri bazaar. A walk through its narrow lanes lets you explore the various kinds of Facades and building skins that reveal the internal fabric of the architectural form, the program, structure, function.

CONCLUSION

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Block GI

Block HI

Figure ground plan of Thatheri bazaar indicating blocks in the decreasing order of the open space density. Block JG, GI and HI.

Suggestive measure : From the analysis been carried out on the Open Spaces applying the parameters of Structure of Evaluation such as Notion of Collective, Enclosures, Porosity, Transitional spaces, Positive and Negative Outdoor spaces and Temporality, it can be inferred that in Banaras open space is not only a physical void but the a factor of openness plays a major role too. In the case of Varanasi, openness is a state of mind.

Overall the urban morphology of the city is very dense but porus at the unit level. This porosity adds a whole different layer of visual permeability to the entire city. A cross section of multiple frames over lapping and juxtaposing starts building its character.

(i)

Block JG

Block GI

Block HI

The new network of open space being added to each block according to the building heights analysis plan. This measure helps every block to have its own network of parallel open space.

The city has evolved very organically with the origin of the settlements around the holy river Ganges. According to the by laws of the city, any construction in and around 200m radius of the river is not permissible. The fabric is so dense that there are hardly any open spaces for the people and the children to play. Currently the terraces are used as an alternative play ground unique to Banaras.

Suggestive measure : To create community spaces at parellel level to the ground plane. As known, the constraints of the construction in this area within 200m of the river, the urban development authorities have a powerful hold over the entire area in the nucleus. According to the building heights analysis, around 75% of the fabric is a G + 4 association. A measure to eliminate all the levels above G+4 to create a network of community spaces at a level parallel to ground can possibly help to address the problem, already utilising the existing fact that the terraces are being used as play grounds.

(ii)

This network all together adds another layer to the fabric without essentially wiping out any of the old and heritage properties. This measure can be implemented in most areas of the inner city.

As the city grew in terms of trade and commerce most of the houses in the nucleus gave up their ground floors to the dealer to be used for commercial storage purposes.

These spaces can be carved back from the masses to form a semi-open space adding to the spine of the main open street. Doing this also increases the degree of visual penetration making one feel a higher degree of openness.

The way a window in a closed room would give a sense of openness, the same way carving out from the solids will give a pulse to the space creating some room for public. This measure can be implemented in most of the areas of nucleus.

After having closely analysied the city over a period time, it can be said that in a city like Varansi, where a complete revolution of urban fabric just cannot happen, these suggestive measures may aid in procuring some open spaces and openness in the existing situation in its own unique manner.

Measure 1 : A parallel network of Open Space Measure 2 : Carving out the voids from the masses.

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BUILDING HEIGHTS

(i)The analysis of building heights in the street of Thatheri Bazaar (ii) all the units with G+4 fabric (iii) The network of new open and collective spaces at a parallel level of G+4.

Kashi Vishwanath temple area sections taken at (i) Block NE (ii) Block MF (iii) Block LF. The area is very dense with the spaces utilised for commerical purposes at the ground and the residencial above it. Carving out the voids from the masses.

As for Banaras, Open Space is not only a Void, It is a State of Mind which can only be felt while meandering in the narrow serpentine streets of one of the oldest cities in the world.

Grid plan showing various degrees of porosity and the mass and void relationship in the entire area. Refer blocks JG, GI, HI, NE, MF and LF for further definition.

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CREDITS FIG 1

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The character mapping analysis as a part of Urban Studio, jointly made by students.

FIG 2

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The character mapping analysis as a part of Urban Studio, jointly made by students.

FIG 3 The Thatheri bazaar area analysis as a part of Urban Studio, jointly made by students.

cover page Advanced Construction Project , 2nd year, carried out at an individual level.

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